Reflections on 1989
When Poland’s future opened up, Solidarity’s sense of agency disappeared
in Focaal
Author:
David Ost
David Ost
Hobart and William Smith Colleges ost@hws.edu
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Perhaps the most surprising part of my recollection of 1989 is to recall the large part of it that was not surprising at all. Because nothing had gotten back to “normal” in Poland in the 1980s, the political events of that decade always happened with Solidarity as the “other.” Because the political situation never seemed resolved, it was always in flux. What happened in 1989 was thus treated initially as part of that flux, by me and by Polish political actors themselves.